Old Collections

[brokenflint]

While browsing thru The Kentucky Rifle by Dillin we see various collections like the Woodmansee, Dillin, Offerman, St. John , Cline, Snyder  and Laidacker.  Anyone know what has happened to these various collections?  Did they get broken up and are now in various collector hands, any in museums?  Although I find the information in these series of books useful, lets face it the photos are not worth much and it.  I’d like to see some good shots of some of these, how about you?  Any of you seen some of these collections?  Patchboxes look intriguing, good shots of the engraving would also be nice to see.

[mr. no gold]

These old collections seem for the most part to have been sold in the mid 1900s. Jim Serven bought several (Woodmansee, Cook, and perhaps Offerman) and sold them in his Gun Room
shop in Santa Ana, CA over several years. They turn up now and then. I have found two of these rifles; one is a side hammer (bottom rifle on plate III, Dillin of side hammer rifles) and a J. Johnson, of Waynesboro, PA from the Woodmansee and Walter Cline collections, through Serven's Gun Room in 1948.
I have seen other pieces from that sale which I wasn't fortunate enough to get. One was a fabulous Kunz rifle. Aside from these it is anybody's guess where the others are, today.
Dick

[Hurricane ( of Virginia)]

The only collection that I have information on is the Kindig Collection. Over many years many guns have been sold off. I have been told that about 400 remain, 12 of which were on exhibition at last years KRA meeting. One, a gun by David Grose, is currently on exhibition in the ALR Museum and was in Kindigs collection ( see Chandlers Patchbox #1). This Grose gun reflects the "Golden Age" guns that I know of from his collection. Others attributed to his original collection show up in shows and are in private collections. If you page through Chandlers Patchbox and Barrel Signatures you can see many guns ( patchboxes only) with their then- current owners at the time of the photographing, many years ago.

[B Shipman]

A good example would be the Vince Nolt collection. He actually had a fairly large museum in Strasburg, PA. Except for a handfull of items (his favorite Beck), everything was auctioned off. And spread out over the country.

[JTR]

Not long ago a friend and I were eye-balling a rifle for sale. The dealer was asking something like 25K for it, as it was a nice one.
One of us asked if the rifle wasn't an X-Kindig gun. The dealer shrugged his shoulders.
A quick look in the book proved that indeed it was, so we asked the dealer, How much now?
Still 25K was the answer.
I was somewhat surprised, but guess that a gun previously in a Great collection doesn't necessarily add more value to it.... But certainly better bragging rights.
I'm guessing that most of the old time collection guns have passed through so many hands now that most won't associate it to the collection any longer. Of course the really great rifles being the exception.
John
 

[brokenflint]

Well I actually expected as much that they would all be broken up, just hopeful that there might be one or two displayed somewhere you could actually view them.  Any suggestions where to visit to get the most bang for my buck so to speak?

"The only collection that I have information on is the Kindig Collection. Over many years many guns have been sold off. I have been told that about 400 remain, 12 of which were on exhibition at last years KRA meeting. One, a gun by David Grose, is currently on exhibition in the ALR Museum and was in Kindigs collection ( see Chandlers Patchbox #1)." 

Just how big was the Kindig collection, if 400 remain?

[Curt J]

A friend of mine recently bought a Hawken that had been in Serven's own collection.

Charles E. Hanson's book, The Plains Rifle , shows or refers to a number of guns from the William C. Almquist collection. I don't know where the rest have gone, but I own one of them, a .56 caliber Plains Rifle by J A MALTBY, GALENA (Illinois), serial number 59. I bought it from another collector who lived near me, over 20 years ago.